The English Renaissance 1500-1620

The English Renaissance 1500-1620Condition: BRAND NEW ISBN: 9780631220244 Year: 2000 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (UK) Pages: 336 Description: This lively and stimulating book guides students through the historical contexts, key figures, texts, themes and issues in sixteenth and early seventeenth century English literature. The English Renaissance, 1500 1620 sets out the historical and cultural contexts of Renaissance England, highlighting the background voices and events which

Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9780631220244
Year: 2000
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (UK)
Pages: 336


Description:
This lively and stimulating book guides students through the
historical contexts, key figures, texts, themes and issues in
sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century English literature. The
English Renaissance, 1500-1620 sets out the historical and
cultural contexts of Renaissance England, highlighting the
background voices and events which influenced literary production,
including the Reformation, the British problem, perceptions of
other cultures and the voyages to the Americas.


A series of short biographical essays on the key writers of the
period explain their significance, and explore a variety of
perspectives with which to approach them. In-depth analyses of a
number of well-studied texts are also provided, indicating why each
text is important and suggesting ways in which each might usefully
be read. Texts featured include Astrophil and Stella, Othello,
Utopia, Dr Faustus, The Tragedy of Miriam, The Unfortunate
Traveller and the Faerie Queene.



The volume charts the intricacies of English Renaissance
literature, taking in a variety of themes including women, gender
and the question of homosexuality; the stage; printing and
censorship; humanism and education and rhetoric. Attention is also
drawn to current debates in Renaissance criticism such as New
Historicism and Cultural Materialism, thus the book provides
students with an unparalleled foundation for further study.



Fully cross-referenced, with a useful chronology, glossary and
suggestions for further reading, this much-needed guide conveys the
excitement of reading Renaissance literature.